"Before the drift in process, it seems that the difficulty is reduced to that of the abuse of minors, a terrible crime, especially when it is perpetrated by a priest, which is, however, only part of a much greater crisis", the cardinals wrote. While the Vatican began cracking down on the abusers themselves under Pope Benedict XVI, the superiors who enabled the crimes and allowed abusers to continue raping children largely got a pass.

The Vatican has various agencies to investigate crimes, but Cardinal Marx criticised the use of the "pontifical secret" for some cases.

She pointed out, however, that the involvement of laity does not guarantee "greater correctness", and dismissed the idea that a "commission of laymen" is more credible than a "commission of priests".

The ongoing scandals have escalated into a crisis which has touched many countries across the globe, with recent cases affecting Chile, Germany and the US. "I think the problem is that you don't protect the little ones, you don't protect who you're supposed to and you freely let the wolves walk around". The activists then placed children's underwear in one of the statue's hands and a small white lace church vestment worn by altar boys on the statue's body to symbolise the suffering of the young people he allegedly molested.

Church leaders have also alienated some Poles with their close ties to the conservative ruling party, which has been accused of eroding Poland's democratic culture and institutions.

"Yes, we proclaim the Ten Commandments and "parade ourselves" as being the custodians of moral standards-values and good behavior in society".

"This past year has taught us that the systematic failures in holding clerics of all rank responsible are due in large measure to flaws in the way we interact and communicate with each other", said Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago. Judy Woodruff has the story, followed by a frank conversation with two abuse survivors and a professor and advocate for change in the church about how these developments affected them and their relationships with the faith.

Sister Openibo said "gender discrimination, the role of women" had been overlooked in the church.

"Putting together a handbook after all this time is laughable", said Peter Isely, who was abused by a priest as a boy and now heads the advocacy group Ending Clergy Abuse.

Huggins says there is work to be done in Vancouver, as she takes a role on the Archdiocese's case review committee.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna told bishops they should cooperate with civil law enforcement investigations and announce decisions about predators to their communities once cases have been decided. "They won't be told: This is exactly what you have to do". "Why did we keep silent for so long?"

That was the case with her son's abuse, Patterson explained, and with numerous survivors she's worked with over the years. Pennsylvania lawmaker Mark Rozzi spoke to reporters about his childhood sexual abuse.

"They want to put their reputation in front of the life of the children".

The 23-year-old said his country had been slow to act because of Italy's deep historic ties to the Roman Catholic Church.

Of course, "we can feel sad" for clerics whose offenses are being brought out into the open, Sister Openibo said, "but my heart bleeds for numerous victims who have lived with the misplaced shame and guilt of repeated violations for years".

"The families, the people in every part of Italy are Catholic, we have the church right in our house."

The Catholic Church's official line has taken an overall more tolerant tone under Francis, and he has ordered his bishops to draft "concrete measures" toward addressing the issue.

American women from the Catholic Worker Movement made a pilgrimage to pray for survivors, including Claire Schaeffer-Duffy from MA.

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